Picking Up Dirty Needles: Locals Launch a Program

Most people shun the discarded needles of drug addicts but today a group is gathering this hazardous waste from Coopers Gulch near Eureka. The Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR), a local non profit, is launching a needle clean-up program. “We will be in Eureka today at Cooper Gulch from 10:30 – 12 collecting dirty needles to help make our community safer for everyone,” writes Michelle Ellis who works with the group.

Is there a place where these folks can get clean ones? Maybe if they had to hand one in to get a clean one that might help. Kind of like a core charge at the auto parts store. Pay a few bucks or hand in a dirty needle to receive a freshy.

You can purchase a package of 10 syringes or a box of 100 at any drugstore no questions asked, new law at the beginning of the year. Disposing of syringes use a sharps container take to Humboldt Waste Management. Any effort to clean up just discarded syringes is great, good luck with that wear thick soles